5 Years On

The latest issue of Rolling Stone has a story about a writer who developed a friendship with Eddie Van Halen after sending a joke email late one night. After trading barbs and apparently bonding over the randomness of the encounter, the guitarist wrote and texted him regularly until his death.

It also touches on Van Halen's battle with cancer... starting with a glossectomy and ending with his death from the disease.  

Of course I discover another ulcer under my tongue just before reading the article.  Of course it refuses to go away.  Is it hypochondria if it's already happened to you?

Gah.  This month makes 5 years since my biopsy, diagnosis and glossectomy.  What a reminder.

Eddie managed to make it 18 more years after his first surgery.  He had millions of dollars and didn't have to answer legally and fiscally for whatever experimental procedures or substances he took.  It wasn't like he had to avoid treatment for fear of losing his job, either.  He could just fly to whatever country in which it was legal.

I mentioned the story to a friend, today...  Every guy with a guitar wanted to be like EVH.  Not that way, though.